Get Inside the Replica That Trained Every Shuttle Astronaut

The Full Fuselage Trainer lacks wings, but was used to train every shuttle astronaut that flew into space.

Visitors are able to visit the payload bay area where a replica of an Inertial Upper Stage rocket booster is suspended as if just deployed. A replica of the Hubble Space Telescope is in the background.

The FFT includes mock main engines as well as orbit maneuvering engines. The tail section houses an informational area.

Visitors lucky enough to enter the crew compartments will have to squeeze through the same size main hatch as was found on the actual orbiters.

The orbiter toilet is just inside the door to the mid-deck. Decades of astronauts crawling in and out of the FFT left their boot marks on the well-worn hatch entry.

The mid-deck on the FFT is an exact replica of the real thing, complete with sleep stations. This is where astronauts not on the flight deck would sit on the flights to and from orbit.

The Museum of Flight's Mike Bush makes his way from the mid-deck towards the payload bay area.

The flight deck is a replica of an orbiter, though the FFT never did get the upgrades, including glass panel displays. The commander (CDR) sits in the left seat and the pilot (PLT) sits in the right seat. The trainer was left just as it was after the last crew used it for training before STS-135.

The flight controls weren't used for flight simulations, but the well-worn control stick shows astronauts used every bit of the FFT for familiarization and training.

With a complex machine comes a complex set of switches. These switches to the commander's left are just a small sampling of the hundreds found on the flight deck. The switch guards minimize the chance a switch is thrown accidentally by floating debris or astronauts.

Appropriately, a checklist left from the final crew training goes through possible failures for the final stage of the flight immediately prior to landing.

A dial on the main panel allows the commander to switch between different abort modes during the ascent. Up until about four minutes after launch the "return to launch site" is a likely scenario. If an RTLS abort is not needed, or the orbiter is past the point where it can return to Florida, a "transoceanic abort landing" means the crew will land somewhere in Europe or Africa. If the desired orbit cannot be reached, but a lower orbit is possible, the "abort to orbit" option is chosen. Of these three abort modes, only ATO was used (on STS-51F).

Showing astronauts have a good sense of humor, a small label beneath the attitude indicator shows the FFT is placarded against inverted spins below 500 feet.

A window at the aft end of the flight deck overlooks the cargo bay area. Here the on-orbit pilot would maneuver the orbiter. Immediately to the left is where the payload handler would train for maneuvering the robotic arm.

A view from the mid-deck up to the aft end of the flight deck shows the windows on top of the orbiter. This is also where astronauts would escape the flight deck in the event of an emergency.

After exiting the flight deck through the overhead windows, the astronauts would slide down the outside of the FFT using ropes. The scuff marks on the side of the trainer show the long history of the FFT.

A pressurized module in the payload bay was used when the shuttle would berth with the International Space Station. The ISS would be connected to the hatch at the top of the photo.

A view from the inside shows the hatch back to the mid-deck as well as the hatch above, which would be used to access the ISS.

It’s not named Atlantis, Discovery, Endeavor or Enterprise. But the Full Fuselage Trainer at the Museum of Flight in Seattle is the only full-size artifact of the space shuttle program that visitors can actually go inside and follow in the footsteps of every shuttle astronaut. There will even be limited access to tour the flight deck, complete with its control sticks, countless switches and pilot seats. The well-worn trainer was used by all of the crews who flew aboard the shuttle orbiters since the first flight back in 1981.

Construction started on the wooden structure of the FFT back in 1974, and it remained in Houston as a training device until the final mission last year. It’s 122 feet long, and the tail stands 48 feet above the floor. There’s a replica of the payload bay and the pressurized crew compartments, including the mid-deck, where mission specialists would sit during the flight to and from space, as well as the flight deck. The cargo bay along with a display area in the tail are open to all visitors.

“We’ll have special programs for people to go through the crew compartments, mostly linked to education programs,” said museum spokesman Mike Bush.

Unlike the easy access and open space of the cargo bay, to enter the crew compartments visitors have to duck and squeeze through a relatively small circular hatch where the first thing you’ll pass on your way in is the orbiter toilet. Access to the flight deck above the entrance on the mid-deck is up a short vertical ladder. Shuttle astronauts also used windows at the top of the flight deck for emergency egress training, though visitors won’t be rappelling down the side of the FFT.

For those who can’t get access to the crew compartments, but are curious about the details of space living, another shuttle toilet will be on display next to a Soyuz version in an adjacent display. Other displays in the gallery include various shuttle history along with the actual Soyuz capsule Museum of Flight patron Charles Simonyi flew in on one of his two flights to the International Space Station. There are also interactive, large touchscreens where visitors can learn all about the FFT complete with panoramic pictures of the flight deck and mid-deck areas. There is also a cockpit simulator where visitors can try out their skills trying to land an orbiter.

Unlike the space-going orbiters and the flight test glider Enterprise, the FFT flew only one time in its illustrious history. In several pieces, the trainer was flown from its former home in Houston to its new home at the Museum of Flight in Seattle aboard NASA’s Super Guppy cargo plane.

The trainer fills the main floor of the new Charles Simonyi Space Gallery at the Museum of Flight. Because visitors can actually get into the FFT, the museum is confident it will be a much better educational tool than the actual orbiters, which will only be viewable from outside.